Broken Walls & Broken Hearts
by TryingMyBest
Summary: Laura talks to Vanessa about what she really thinks of Ross and Maia's relationship, and reflects on what her own relationship with Ross has come to since "Teen Beach Movie." Once a one-shot, but due to popular request, now a story. Based on real Raura events.
1. Chapter 1

I'm not the jealous type. I mean, literally, I'm not. Maia is my friend. So is Ross. So what if Stormie's constant Instagram posts always show up on my twitter newsfeed? It doesn't really bother me.

But it does. More than I'd like to admit.

This isn't like me.

Ross has talked to me about girls before. I know what type of girls he likes. I've literally tried setting him up with girls before, but it's never worked. Maybe.. Maia is the girl he's been waiting for? The dream girl he always gushes to me about. The girl he can picture a romantic movie ending with - the soulmate we talk to each other about during our time off on set.

So, why does it bother me so much to see his pictures with her? Why does it bother me so much that his mom, that I've always been close with, basically gushes over the two? Why does it bother me if we're just really close friends?

"Hey kid," I heard Vanessa knock as she entered my room. "What are you doing on your fancy new iPad now?"

"I'm just on twitter," I said with a straight face. I didn't really feel like myself at the moment.

"Are you okay?" Vanessa could tell something was bothering me. She's my sister, but even more than that, she's my best friend. So I guess it made sense that she could read me like an open book.

"Vanessa, can I tell you something?" I hesitantly asked.

"You know you can tell me anything." She was serious now, and she knew that what we were about to discuss wasn't a joking matter. "Does it have something to do with what you're looking at?"

I hadn't realized that the screen on my iPad was currently open to one of Ross and Maia's photos that Stormie posted. Maia's arms were wrapped around him as they posed for Stormie's Instagram photo, and I was gripping the iPad as I burnt a hole in the picture with my anger. Why did I feel like this?

"Yeah..." I trailed off, I didn't really know how to respond or talk about how I was feeling.

"So that's Maia, huh?" I turned to look at her now, her expression unreadable and my cheeks red with frustration.

"Yeah. She's a total sweetheart." My response came out a lot more bitter than I had intended, but at the moment, I meant every ounce of venom I had spit out when I said it. "She and Ross seem pretty close. It's great."

"Laura..."

"I don't know why this tab was open," I said as I exited the safari browser on my iPad.

"It's okay," I heard Vanessa whisper as I slammed the iPad down on my bed, and pulled my legs up to hug them. "You like Ross, Laura, it's okay to admit it."

I didn't want to respond, because I knew she was right. My sister, my best friend, she knew me better than anyone. "Even if I did..." I trailed off. "It's pretty clear he doesn't like me."

It was true. "I had invited him to hang out with Calum, Raini, & I the other day to go to Benihana's and visit Kevin and Heath, but he never replied. Whenever I try to text him he NEVER replies."

"Maybe he's busy!" Vanessa sounded like it was so obvious. "He just got back from tour. Maybe he wanted to spend time with his family. You know more than anyone how much family time means."

"He was on tour with his family! It's different." It wasn't like me to be so angry at something so small, but what I was feeling for my co-star wasn't like me at all, either.

"Maybe so. But cut him some slack, maybe he..."

"Maybe he, what? I read on my newsfeed that he went cruising around Hollywood with Maia. I honestly don't think he cares for me that much. Not like he used to, anyway."

"Laura..."

There was an awkward silence, because Vanessa knew it was true. Something had changed between Ross and I since he had gotten back from doing countless promos and had spent so much time with Maia because of his new movie. I couldn't really blame him.

"Maia's beautiful. She's funny, she's sweet.. She's Australian! That alone is awesome," I hated how true my words were. I was so torn and so jealous that I hated how I felt.

"Laura, the chemistry is obvious between you and Ross. You two click, and your characters complete each other, even you've said so yourself," Vanessa defended.

"Our CHARACTERS, Vanessa. Not us."

"Laura, you've told me yourself that characters can be written in a script to be whoever the producer desires, but it is up to the actors to carry it through. Austin and Ally wouldn't be who they are today if you and Ross weren't playing them."

A tear glided down my cheek now, warm with anger and bitter with jealousy. I hated this feeling.

I heard Vanessa sigh as she said, "Maybe..."

She kept trailing off, as if what she was about to say was going to offend me.

"Maybe you should let your walls down."

Another tear landed on my cheek, and I quickly wiped both tears away as I nodded.

"Thanks, Vanessa," I tried to smile as I leaned in for a hug. I didn't want to talk about it any longer.

"You know that if you need me, you know where I live." I laughed at her remark. She smiled at me, scanning my face in all its hurt and heartbreak, then finally closed my door, leaving me to my thoughts.

I found my flip phone on top of my dresser, and scrolled through my contacts. I found his name and paused. Taking a deep breath, I typed:

Hey Ross! :) Raini, Calum & I

I stopped. I deleted a few words and began again:

Hey Ross! :) I've missed you.

I stared at the last sentence for a few moments, my heart racing with all that could be interpreted from it. Nevertheless, I finished my text:

Hey Ross! :) I've missed you. Hope you've been able to relax since tour! Can't wait to see you next

I clicked send and watched as the green arrow on the SMS envelope turned into a green check mark, letting me know that my text, did, in fact, send.

I decided to go to sleep, hoping that my dreams would be much happier than my reality. Maybe I'd wake up to a reply from Ross, even.

I opened my eyes in a worse mood than I had gone to sleep. I sat up for a moment, remembering that I had texted Ross.

I checked my phone:

Inbox: 0 new messages

I scrolled to my sent messages, and stared at the text sent the night before. I was right, it did send.

I scrolled to look at the texts before then:

To: Ross

Sent: 6/7/13 3:12 pm

Hey! :D Want to hang out with Calum, Raini & I today?

He hadn't replied to that either. I scrolled down a bit more, to the last time we had seen each other - or rather, I had seen him.

To: Ross

Sent: 5/19/13 6:42 pm

Guess who's going to your concert tonight?! This girl! :D you're going to do AWESOME

He didn't reply to that either. In fact, I didn't even see him that night because I had to leave right after the concert. At times like these, I wish I had a smart phone so I could at least know whether or not he read it.

Frustrated, I put my phone down and got out of bed. I knew right where I was heading, because now, I had real heart break to write about.

I say down at the piano bench and just played, allowing the melody to just naturally come.

Though I hated how I felt, I loved what this was coming to.

Just because my heart was suffering, didn't mean my music should to.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up with only one thing on my mind: today is the day. The first day of Austin & Ally Season 3 and I could not be more ecstatic to see everyone again! Raini, Calum, Garron, Ross...

My heart's beat suddenly stopped.

Ross. I'm not exactly sure how awkward today will be considering that I've been doing a lot of thinking since my talk with Vanessa.

"Oh Laura!"

Speaking of Vanessa...

"Laura!" She sang through the door. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, you can come in. Are we in a singing mood this morning?" I laughed.

"No, not really," she said in her normal, sarcastic tone. "I just know what today is and what it means to you."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "I know, I know! I'm so excited to see everyone again and to get started with filming. I've been DYING to see how the writers are completing the season 2 cliffhanger."

Vanessa laughed, "Oh my gosh, you have got to be kidding me, kid."

I furrowed my eyebrows, "What do you mean?" I asked hesitantly.

"Laura, you're seeing Ross today!" She said as a matter of factly. "For the first time in who knows how long."

Sighing, I got out of my bed to the door where Vanessa stood. "It doesn't do me much good to think about him if he's not even thinking about me."

Vanessa stopped to read my face. "Since when did you become so pessimistic? Laura, are you still in there?"

I shook my head at my nostalgic answer. "I don't know why I've been so off lately!" I groaned. "Only happy thoughts today. Today is going to be a great day, right?" My question was intended for Vanessa but it was as if I was asking it to convince myself the same thing.

"I'm sure of it, Laura." But somehow nothing could bring me to believe Vanessa's words.

* * *

I got into set minutes after Raini, only to notice that she and I were the only ones to actually be on time.

"Typical Calum and Ross," Raini giggled as I looked around.

I laughed, and turned to hug her, "I missed you so much!" It was true, and I tried my best to give the most believe squeeze I could.

"I missed you, too! There is so much we need to catch up on!" I laughed because even though we hadn't physically seen each other since the Monster's University premiere, we had talked on the phone non-stop since. We were always caught up, but with Raini, there was always new news.

"Oh, a hundred percent. We'll talk during break!"

I heard everyone yell "Calum!" as he walked into the room. "Hey, guys," the very chill Calum said. Typical ginger. I watched as he went around the room politely greeting everyone, making sure no one felt ignored or overlooked. When he finally approached us, he politely hugged Raini and I, leaving me laughing at the fact that he was so opposite from Dez. He really was an incredible actor.

"Where's Ross?" He asked. "Late as usual?"

We all laughed and I couldn't help but have an even bigger smile on my face present at this very moment. It was so great to have my second family back together. We were just missing one person...

"Ross!" When Ross arrived, there was no mistaking it. He always had everyone's attention, as displayed by everyone greeting him way more excitedly than Calum, Raini, and I had been greeted. There was no denying that he was the star of the show, other than me, of course. But he definitely fit the star quota much better than my awkward self.

He approached Calum first with a "What's up, man? Long time no see." Raini with a "Hey Raini, I missed you, too!" And paused when he saw me.

I really did not want this to be awkward.

"Ross!" I broke the silence first. "Hey!"

His face softened as he smiled, and leaned in for a hug. I practically melted into him, hoping that no one else noticed. It really had been too long.

Heath walked up to us, putting his shoulders on Ross and Calum. "The team's all back together again!" We all laughed, but I couldn't help but look at Ross, who had happened to be looking at me too. Of course, I was the first one to break eye contact.

"Alright, everyone. Let's get started!" Kevin shouted from the head of the table. Everyone cheered. As we found our seats, I couldn't help but notice that mine was directly across from Ross.

* * *

As we stopped for a break, I headed for the snack table. "Yay!" I inwardly squealed as I saw the gogurt at the end of the table. As I reached for one, I heard a familiar voice say, "Laura going for the gogurt! Shocker."

I looked up to see Ross looking down at me, his sly smirk present. I laughed awkwardly. "Oh yeah!" Was all I could say. I gawked at myself. Oh yeah? What was that?

"So what have you been up to?" He asked. It was hard to tell if he was trying to be smooth with everything he said, because he certainly was.

"Taking photos and things," I said. What? Did you mean, photoshoots, Laura?

"Oh, you're getting into photography? I can't see that. You're not exactly all that great with technology," he chuckled.

All I could do was awkwardly laugh. "Yeah..."

Before I could do any more damage, I walked back to my seat. I looked back at Ross who was now talking to Sam. I expected to see him chewing a snack from the snack table or holding a bag of chips, but he wasn't. So why did he go to the snack table if he wasn't going to get a snack? Or more importantly, why was I being so awkward?

Raini tapped my shoulder to get my attention as I was so distracted in my thoughts. "Are you okay?" She asked. I was crossing my fingers under the table, praying she didn't see what had just happened. "You seem a little off today. Kind of awkward over there with Ross," she discreetly pointed to him.

"Yeah!" I tried my best to stay enthusiastic. "I'm fine!"

"Laura, you know who you sound like right now?"

"Who?"

"Ally when she was hurt from Austin choosing to be with Kira."

I tried my best to laugh. I mean, years of acting training and I couldn't lie to one of my best friends.

"Well some may say Ally and I do have a lot in common," I laughed as I elbowed Raini.

"Yeah..." She trailed off. "Maybe more than you think..."

* * *

As we went into our lunch break, we all sat in Calum's dressing room. Raini and I were criss-crossed on the floor on one side, while the guys were sitting on the couch on the other side.

I took out my Disney Channel lunch bag as Ross laughed. "I promise, Laura, they serve some pretty good lunch here, too. You should try it sometime."

Raini and Calum laughed as I just took a bite of my dad's pasta.

Raini must have noticed how uncomfortable I was, since she asked again, "Are you okay, Laura?"

"I'm fine!" I said immediately. I'm just starving," I said as I stuffed my face.

"Hey, we still need to come over your house and make pasta," Calum reminded everyone.

Raini cut in, "Yeah, you promised, Laur!"

"I've been dying to see your pink room Raini's told us about!" Ross exclaimed as my heart pumped harder. "Raini makes it sound pretty awesome."

At this point, I didn't know what to say.

"Uh - yeah!" I was pretty sure I had said that like five times today. "My dad's been busy dealing with Vanessa's Switched at Birth stuff lately so we'll see," I explained sternly. I didn't mean to be such a joy kill, but if I couldn't handle the thought of Ross in my room, I definitely wouldn't be able to handle Ross physically, like, actually in my room. I was currently hating myself.

After catching up with Calum and Raini (and trying my best to avoid talking to Ross in effort to NOT say something stupid), Stormie came in the room. "Hey guys, just wanted to take one or two photos of the reunion!"

We all gave her our okays, but I felt a different question coming. "Ross, Laura, can I get a picture of you two together?"

I should've seen this coming a mile away. At this rate, I was so awkward that it'd probably show through photos. So I cleared my throat and said, "We should take a candid one! I'll pretend to be on my phone and Ross could..." I trailed off, desperately searching to give Ross something to do other than put his arm around me, "...he could pretend to be on his laptop!" I said as I pointed to his MacBook on Calum's desk.

"Uh, okay." Ross skeptically said. As I made sure to pose away from Ross, I posed on my flip phone, not even able to look at the camera.

"Okay, 1...2...3!" Stormie counted.

Today was definitely not how I had expected.

* * *

As we were saying our goodbyes, Kevin and Heath stopped Ross and I, pulling us into the writer's room.

Calum and Raini had already left, and all of the crew had gone home already. It was just Kevin, Heath, Ross, and I. I wasn't really sure how my heart could beat so fast.

"So," Kevin started, "as you guys know, the Auslly relationship," he said as he used air quotes, "has gotten really popular with the fans." Ross and I nodded, trying our best to be professional.

Suddenly, Heath broke the professionalism, "They basically tweet us about it all the time! 95% of our mentions are about you two."

He quickly corrected himself, "Your characters, I mean."

Smooth, Heath. Smooth.

I laughed, because even though this whole situation was awkward, I loved these two. I was so lucky to be working with them.

Kevin looked at the clock as he said, "I won't keep you guys for too long, but we just wanted to make sure it would be okay with you guys if we continued the relationship arc between Austin and Ally. If you guys would be up for it, or if you had any opinions on it," he said.

Ross was the first to speak up. "I think it's great. I like them together, it's fun to play out," he said cheerfully.

All three of them looked at me for my opinion. "I think..." I trailed off, "that you guys always make the best decisions. So I'm totally up for whatever!" I tried to answer as nonchalantly as I could.

"Great!" Heath said. "We'll see you guys tomorrow," he said as he got up. "Great job today."

As Ross and I walked out to the studio parking lot to get to our cars, his arm brushed mine a few times. The spark was so evident, I had to take a few smaller steps so we wouldn't be so close.

"I'm excited for this season!" Ross said. "I don't know about you, but I like Austin and Ally together."

I laughed, "Me too."

"I think what makes it so much fun is being able to do it with you," Ross stopped walking, looking straight at me.

My mouth felt frozen. His hazel eyes were enough to kill me. My awkward self replied with, "Yeah, it's so great working with everyone!" I groaned at my answer.

Ross looked confused, and because I didn't know what to say, I started walking again, this time a little faster.

As I got to my car first, I yelled out, "See you tomorrow!"

"Later," Ross called. "Don't research George too much tonight. You gotta get up early tomorrow!"

"You're the one who was late!" I called back.

Ross laughed, and as I sat down in the driver's seat, I inwardly screamed. "One clever sentence throughout the entire day, way to go Laura," I said sarcastically.

* * *

When I was finally home, I connected to the wifi on my mini iPad and updated my status:

Aw, I missed you all! Raini_Rodriguez CalumWorthy rossR5 StormieLynchR5 AustinAllyRoom Pickle_Pancakes AustinAllyPixie 3 3

Hopefully that would have made up for some of my awkwardness today.

I put my iPad down and walked across the hall to Vanessa's room. I didn't even bother to knock as I opened the door and said, "Today was a disaster."

"Thanks for knocking," Vanessa sarcastically said.

I groaned and collapsed on her bed.

"What happened?" Vanessa said as she got up from her desk and sat down next to me.

"I was a hundred percent awkward with Ross today."

"Oh man, I was afraid this was going to happen. Did he say anything to you?" Vanessa asked, concerned.

"I think he was flirting with me. It's so hard to tell with Ross because I feel like he flirts with everyone," I explained.

"Well then, you should flirt back!" Vanessa said like it was so obvious.

I grabbed her pillow and hugged it tightly to my chest.

"Please don't laugh at what I'm about to say," I hesitantly said.

"No promises," Vanessa said with a smirk on her face.

"I'm serious, Vanessa!"

"Whoah, okay. I won't laugh," she said sympathetically. "Sorry." She said as she squeezed my hand. "You must have really had a rough day. I've never seen you so miserable after seeing the cast. You're normally so happy! I mean, you always are happy," I was starting to see that we had the whole, talking a lot, in common. "Anyway, what were you going to say?"

I sighed and quietly mumbled, "I don't think I know how to flirt."

"What'd you say?"

"I don't know how to flirt!" I told her. "It's so sad, I'm 17, like, what 17 year old doesn't know how to flirt?" I was so frustrated. "Maybe that's why Ross is all over Maia. She seems so much more fun to be with, not all awkward like me."

"Do you mean a cockblock?"

"What?" I laughed, "What is a cockblock?!"

"What you're saying you are. You don't flirt back. You're basically stopping yourself from getting anywhere with Ross," Vanessa said.

"But I don't do it on purpose! I just don't know how to," Vanessa looked at me like she didn't believe me. "I'm serious! He told me today that he has so much fun working on Austin and Ally because he gets to work with me! What do I even say to that?"

"Well, what do you think about working on Austin and Ally?" Vanessa asked me.

"Well, it's amazing. Without it, I wouldn't have met everyone; I wouldn't have met my second family. I'm so lucky to have them in my life. I'm so lucky to have Ross in my life," the words came out so easily.

"Then that's what you tell him."

"You act like it's so easy," I told her.

"Because it is. Nothing about liking someone should be hard. It should come naturally, because the feeling itself does."

I studied Vanessa's face, her words echoing in my head.

"Don't stop yourself from getting what you want."

I didn't really know what to say after what Vanessa had told me.

"Thank you so much," I said as I leaned in for a hug. "I'm so lucky to have you."

"Tell Ross that!"

I laughed, "Okay, okay." I started for the door and paused before closing it behind me, "Goodnight, I love you."

"I love you too, kid."

I quietly walked past my parent's room since it was late and they were sleeping, and snaked into my room. I closed the door behind me and disconnected my flip phone from its charger.

Finding his name, I typed:

To: Ross

Sent: July 8, 2013 11:42 PM

I missed you SO much! :D SO great seeing you today haha. I'm really lucky to have you

I pressed send and watched as the green arrow turned into a green check mark and charged my phone.

Season 3 was going to be very interesting... For both our characters and us.


End file.
